Northeast Fire Board Doles out Severances; Harsh Critic of District Policies Provides Swing Vote to Pay out More Than $780,000 to Lawyers, Chief; New Member Votes No [Corrected 10/20/15]

Article excerpt

BEVERLY HILLS - Tempers flared and a fracas erupted after an
emergency meeting of the Northeast fire district board on Sunday at
which the board voted to pay its controversial attorneys and fire
chief severance packages totaling more than $780,000.

The settlements left some at the meeting speechless and others
fuming. Before the building emptied, three of those in attendance,
including state Rep. Don Calloway Jr., D-Bel-Nor, were taken away in
handcuffs.

Beverly Hills police charged Calloway with second-degree robbery
after he grabbed a district checkbook to determine which bank the
severance payments were to be taken from, Calloway told the Post-
Dispatch. District resident Patricia Gaddess and a Northeast
employee's mother, Rowena Neierda, also were arrested and held at
the Police Department for nearly three hours. Both were involved in
a fracas that ensued after Calloway tossed the checkbook to someone
near the door, but neither was charged with any crime.

About 50 residents of the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection
District attended the emergency meeting Sunday afternoon, expecting
that the district's newly configured board would fire attorneys
Elbert Walton Jr. and Bernard Edwards Jr. On Thursday, a St. Louis
County judge named Bridget Quinlisk-Dailey to the three-member
board. Board members Rhea Willis and Roberts Edwards had been at
extreme odds since early October, so Quinlisk-Dailey's appointment
was expected to allow not only for a tie-breaker, but for the
firings of the board's attorneys and fire chief.

But Sunday's events came as a surprise. Walton, Bernard Edwards
Jr. and Chief Joe Washington agreed to walk away from Northeast if
they received severance packages. Willis and Robert Edwards voted to
approve the settlements, and Quinlisk-Dailey voted against them.

Walton's agreement was for $190,000, in addition to bills he had
submitted for payment from the district. Edwards' agreement was for
$90,000, also with payment of bills he has submitted.

The district's funds were frozen Oct. 20 with a restraining
order. A judge ruled Thursday that the preliminary injunction
keeping them frozen would be dissolved if the board agreed on
district expenditures with a majority vote. That appears to have
happened Sunday.

In the three weeks after the order took effect, Walton submitted
bills for at least $32,635, and Edwards for at least $19,000,
according to district records filed in court. The Post-Dispatch
could not determine Sunday night the total for legal bills submitted
since Oct. 20.

Washington's agreement, according to the resolution approved
Sunday, says the district is to pay him a lump sum of $450,000. It
also says the district is to defend him against any legal action
"whether meritorious, groundless or otherwise arising out of an
alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of his duties
as fire chief," and that it shall pay any settlements, judgments or
legal fees that result. …